MARCH 24 - According to local news sources, former Managing Director PIA Capt. Nadeem Khan Yousafzai has been appointed as Director General Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). He has replaced Air Marshal (retd.) Khalid Chaudhry.

Nadeem Khan Yousafzai in the past also served CAA as Director General before his appointment as MD PIA in February 2011.

Issue of conflict of interest raised in following news report due to appointment of PIA pilot as DG CAA.

But, I think conflict of interest already exists or existed in the shape of pilots of Pakistani airlines like PIA and AirBlue who on deputation serve or served CAA in its departments/units related to flight safety and standards.

Yousafzai appointed CAA director general

By Saad Hasan

Published: March 25, 2012

KARACHI: Nadeem Khan Yousafzai, Managing Director of Pakistan International Airlines and a serving pilot, was reappointed on Saturday as Director General of Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), television channels reported.

CAA spokesman could not confirm the appointment immediately while the new DG could not be reached for comments.

PIA spokesman also could not confirm the development, saying no notification had been issued because of Saturday being an official holiday.

Yousafzai, who was appointed managing director of cash-strapped PIA in February 2011, has also headed CAA for some time in the past.

However, his appointment has raised questions about impartiality of the regulator. CAA has had a thorny relationship with PIA considering the airlineÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢s poor maintenance track record and recurring engineering faults.

Former CAA DG Junaid Amin commented that an operator could never be the regulator. ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã…â€œThis is absolutely wrong. CAA checks pilots and deals with aircraft maintenance. It often penalises the airline. With a PIA man at the top, it wonÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢t be easy for CAA now.ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã‚Â

Being a captain, Yousafzai regularly takes flights both on domestic and international routes. It is not clear if he will continue to do that as CAA DG. But during his last tenure in CAA in 2010, he kept flying planes.

Amin said it would be challenging for Yousafzai to remain impartial when it came to grounding of old and faulty PIA aircraft. ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã…â€œThe 737s are in bad shape. We had grounded them earlier because of technical problems.ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã‚Â

Airport managers have powers of judicial magistrate, allowing them authority to restrict the pilot who is sick or under the influence of alcohol, he said. ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã…â€œAn unfit pilot can be a serious safety hazard. Who will dare stop a sitting CAA DG?ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã‚Â